Abstract:
Students use inclusion and exclusion vocabulary words to create movement in this video podcast.
This video podcast, featuring Tracy Thomson and Grade 6 students was developed by Curriculum Services Canada. Students use inclusion and exclusion vocabulary words to create movement.
16:17 in length.
I really enjoyed watching this lesson and I thought that it presented a really great example of a way to use dance as a medium through which students can explore and think critically about important topics (such as bullying and inclusion) as well as vocabulary that may seem abstract. I loved how the teacher connected the important themes of inclusion to the five senses, as I felt that students were able to gain a much deeper understanding of the vocabulary and create meaning that they could connect to. Integrating dance with language arts in this way (creating a dance piece about a concept/ event in a novel) is something that I would have never thought of prior to taking this course, and after watching and participating in these types of lessons and activities, I know that I will definitely want to try this in a classroom. - commentary from a pre-service candidate
In this lesson, the students were able to critically discuss and understand inclusion and exclusion in creating vocabulary words and developing body movements that represented them. This was a very well planned and thought out lesson, as it integrated many different things that the students were working on, so that they could develop a deeper understanding of what it means to be insider and what it means to be an outsider (a theme they were exploring in their novel study). I especially liked how the teacher put emphasis on understanding inclusion using ALL our senses! This lesson certainly encouraged all students to recognize their individual strengths, as the teacher’s instruction carefully considered different learning modalities and needs. I think that this would be an excellent lesson to use in discussing a variety of topics regarding emotions, and in integrating dance into other subjects that you are teaching. - commentary from a pre-service candidate
I loved the way this dance activity is creating an activity that is cross-curricular with the students reading. I think it’s a great way for students to go deeper in their own reading. I also think for the students who are not as comfortable with dance, they are able to use their strengths with reading and what they already knew from their reading to get more out of this activity. Additionally, I think this is a great way to create more discussion about whatever issue you want to talk about in your class. Since it shows how you can use your senses to identify emotions from characters, this would be a great way to discuss emotions of other topics too (i.e., world issues, bullying, social issues, etc.). I think emotion is a really valuable aspect of dance that can benefit the students learning, and this video shows a great way to make it cross-curricular with language, and how the students learning is more engaged because the more they are doing, the more they are learning! - commentary from a pre-service candidate